Newcrest confirms death at Indonesian mine

Australian miner Newcrest Mining today confirmed a man died overnight after being shot by police in a clash with protesters at its new $100 million gold mining development in eastern Indonesia.

Newcrest general manager of corporate affairs Peter Reeve said the company regretted the death on its property.

He also denied reports a second man was shot and beaten to death during the 4am clash at the Toguraci mine, on remote Halmahera island in North Maluku province.

"We're quite certain that only one person has been shot and has died," Mr Reeve said.

"Apparently overnight a group came onto the site, and they were armed, and there was a clash with police and one of these blokes was shot and has since passed away.

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"We regret that has occurred but it is really an incident now between the police and those people."

Newcrest was forced to shut down the project for five weeks late last year after about 2,000 local protesters occupied the site and began removing ore.

After a protracted shutdown, the protesters were removed by Indonesia's feared Brimob paramilitary police unit, who fired warning shots in the air to force them out.

But several dozen protesters who claim ancestral land rights over the area vowed to return to claim a share of the expected profits.

A spokeswoman for the rights group Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network (IMAN) said Brimob officers had killed two people after 150 protesters returned to reoccupy the site overnight.

"One person was shot in the head and another was shot in the leg, then beaten to death after protesters returned this morning," IMAN spokesman Igor O'Neill told AAP.

"As many as five other people are still missing."

Mr Reeve said the missing five had been arrested.

"It's really in a sense nothing to do with Newcrest although it did happen on our site, the issue has been about illegal mining, it's really about people stealing gold, and police are there to prevent that."

Mr O'Neill said the latest row was caused by local frustration that Newcrest was opening the mine in protected forest areas, allegedly without proper government approval.

The activists have demanded Newcrest distribute Rp500 billion ($A80 million) in profits from its nearby Gosowong mine to local people.

Mr Reeve said the claim was "extraordinary".

"We return royalties and employment revenue to the government," he said.

"They're asking for that stuff to be paid directly to them, it's really an issue between the government, the local government and the people, it's not between them and Newcrest.

"We have a permit and approval to mine there, and the government supports that position, those people can negotiate with the government or their local member so we're not in negotiations with those people."